In its 51st financial year, family-run enterprise Allit AG of Bad Kreuznach, Germany, has reached a Group turnover of 49 million Euro, thus exceeding the figures reported in the previous financial year by around five million.

The Allit Group draws a positive balance of its anniversary financial year

Chairman of the Board of Directors Hans Kallinowsky (67) as well as his sons Jochen and Karsten Kallinowsky, both Members of the Board of Directors, are confident that turnover in the current financial year, which has already seen four successful months, will rise to well above 50 million Euro.

Allit AG Kunststofftechnik accounts for 80 percent of the turnover, while the remainder is shared among Dr. Heinrich Schneider Messtechnik GmbH and the mostly small-sized subsidiaries of the Group.

From October 2010 to mid-2011, Allit had to cope with two external problems: The prices of bulk plastics required in production, such as polypropylene and polystyrene, virtually exploded, rising in some cases to twice the amount charged in more fortunate times. It was only after seven to nine months at record level that prices started to stabilise at a high level. Although escalator clauses were applied, it was not possible to pass these additional costs on to Allit customers in the speed corresponding to the actual price increase in raw materials. Furthermore, the rise in prices caused noticeable customer restraint in order placement.

An electricity price increase following in the wake of the introduction of the Renewable Energies Act (EEG) moreover burdened the 2011 budget with 250,000 Euro, an amount representing as much as approx. 20 percent of the overall account of 1.2 million Euro. “We have nevertheless been able to report good results, although some skid marks are visible“, explains the Group’s senior chief, who believes that the cost and price development crisis has now been largely overcome. As a countermove to the crisis, Allit has tapped new markets and won new customers.

Allit’s Supervisory Board under the chairmanship of the former Federal Minister of Economics Dr. Hans Friderichs was pleased to note that the turnover and profit target for 2011 had been exceeded. The Group’s equity ratio rose to above 52 percent of the balance sheet total although the latter had grown by two million to 33 million Euro. “We are in a thoroughly healthy state“, declares Hans Kallinowsky. After 13 years, his wife Ursula will leave the Supervisory Board as of today’s date. Her place will be taken by publisher Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, who has extensive knowledge of the small and medium-sized business sector. Her SMSE-minded thinking and strong creativity will be beneficial to the company.

Allit is currently making substantial investments at its Bad Kreuznach plant site in order to enlarge its production capacity by 20 percent with a view to still better serving both existing and new customers. Furthermore, partially outsourced or subcontracted production orders will be taken back and handled in-house again. The declared goal is to increase productivity in all segments, as always by means of the company’s active Continuous Improvement Process. Fifteen innovative products from the Storage Solutions and Logistics range will be presented at several trade fairs over the next eight months.

“An interesting development” – this is Jochen Kallinowsky’s evaluation of an already award-winning OEM product designed to reduce fuel consumption of aircraft. As a long-standing technological partner, Allit manufactures several components of this product at its plant in China.

Allit’s Chinese subsidiary, which is situated in Qingdao, currently employs a staff of 32 employees. This year, it will relocate to a new production hall. Around 500,000 Euro are scheduled to be invested in new machinery – an amount largely derived from the profit generated by the Chinese subsidiary. Under the technological leadership of its own company in China, Allit purchases about 100 to 120 moulds per year from Chinese tool manufacturers with excellent prices and delivery times. Nevertheless, major investments in new machine tools will be made at the Bad Kreuznach plant because 25 staff members each are currently employed in the tool manufacturing and maintenance departments.

Schneider Messtechnik, whose most important areas of business have traditionally been the development and sale of multisensor measuring machines, has recently been expanded by a department dedicated to metrological software. This opens up interesting possibilities to enter new markets and will help the company position itself as a competent partner for manufacturers of products relying on metrology. In addition, the sales department has been and will be further strengthened with a view to placing an even stronger focus on the European market.

“A source of ever-increasing pleasure” according to the Kallinowsky family is Pall SeitzSchenk Modultechnik GmbH, an enterprise in which Allit holds 49 %. The company manufactures high-quality filters for the pharmaceutical and beverage industries. Turnover is growing in the double-digit range, and it is apparent that the company will be pushed to its spatial limits in two years’ time. The planning work to prevent the bottleneck is already in full swing.
 
The Allit Group maintains a staff of around 370 employees (in contrast to 350 in the previous financial year), of whom approximately 50 are employed at Schneider Messtechnik and a total of 25 apprentices trained in different professions. Member of the Board of Directors Jochen Kallinowsky reports that it is not easy to find suitable applicants in sufficient numbers to fill available apprenticeship openings. Three to four posts in the professions of  “Mechanic in Plastics and Rubber Processing” as well as “Tools Mechanic” with specialisation on “mould technology” are still vacant.

Chairman of the Board of Directors Hans Kallinowsky is pleased to note that over 120 employees have been with the company for more than ten years and that three employees will even celebrate their 50-year anniversary with the company this year. Many of the Group’s department heads began their career with an apprenticeship at Allit and then engaged in further education and training. At the Bad-Kreuznach Company Run, Allit started with an impressive team.